Centralized status server for call management of location-aware mobile devices

Abstract

Systems, methods and computer program products for utilizing location information in a virtual private branch exchange (vPBX) system are described. In some implementations, the vPBX system can use the location information to determine an availability status of a user of a mobile device (e.g., out of the office, in the office, at home, busy, and the like). The vPBX system can obtain the geographic coordinates of the mobile device and correlate these coordinates with known coordinates for locations associated with the user (e.g., the user's office, home, or other predefined locations). An inference of the user's availability can then be determined based on the correlation (e.g., whether the user is currently out of the user's office, at the user's home, or at another location). The user's availability can be made available to other users associated with the vPBX system, and can be used for call management (e.g., routing).

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 receiving geographic information associated with a mobile device; 
 determining a device location of the mobile device based on the geographic information; 
 identifying an availability status of the mobile device based on the device location; 
 determining whether the mobile device is stationary, comprising determining whether a moving speed associated with the mobile device is below a threshold value; 
 receiving a call to the mobile device; 
 selecting, by one or more computers, a call-related action rule from a plurality of call-related action rules, each call-related action rule defining a respective call-related action based on the availability status and on whether the mobile device is stationary, wherein the plurality of call-related action rules includes a first call-related action rule that specifies that, when the availability status of the mobile device indicates that the device is at a first predetermined location and the mobile device is stationary, calls intended for the mobile device should be forwarded to a different device associated with the predetermined location; and 
 performing the call-related action defined by the selected call-related action rule on the call. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein selecting the call-related action rule includes:
 identifying an action rule pertaining to forwarding the received call to a predetermined entity; and 
 where performing the call-related action includes forwarding the received call to the predetermined entity based on the action rule. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , where determining the device location includes:
 identifying a location rule containing location information associated with a predefined location based on the received geographic information; and 
 identifying the predefined location as the device location. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 identifying a proximity parameter associated with the location rule; and 
 determining if the received geographic information satisfies the proximity parameter, 
 where identifying the predefined location includes identifying the predefined location as the device location if the received geographic information satisfies the proximity parameter. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , where determining the device location includes:
 comparing the received geographic information against one or more referenced locations; 
 identifying a referenced location whose geographic information matches the received geographic information; and 
 identifying the referenced location as the device location. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising polling the mobile device for the geographic information,
 where the geographic information is received as a result of polling. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , where receiving the geographic information includes receiving the geographic information in response to a triggering event detected by the mobile device. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining that the mobile device is not stationary based on determining that the moving speed associated with the mobile device exceeds the threshold value,
 where the call-related action defined by the selected call-related action rule comprises playing a message to a caller of an incoming call before the incoming call is connected to the mobile device to alert the caller that the mobile device is in a moving vehicle. 
 
     
     
       9. A device comprising:
 a call control manager that receives one or more calls to be completed to a mobile device and processes the one or more received calls using geographic information associated with the mobile device and a moving speed associated with the mobile device, the call control manager including: 
 a location manager to identify a location rule based on the geographic information, the location rule relating the geographic information to a predefined location; 
 a device locator to determine a current availability status of the mobile device based on the location rule and the predefined location and to determine whether the mobile device is stationary or not based on the moving speed associated with the mobile device; and 
 an action mapper to select an action rule from a plurality of action rules based on the current availability status of the mobile device and on whether the mobile device is stationary, wherein the plurality of action rules includes a first action rule that specifies that, when the availability status of the mobile device indicates that the device is at a first predetermined location and the mobile device is stationary, calls intended for the mobile device should be forwarded to a different device associated with the predetermined location. 
 
     
     
       10. The device of  claim 9 , where the identified action rule is associated with a call-related action; and
 where the call control manager is configured to perform the call-related action on a received call. 
 
     
     
       11. The device of  claim 9 , where the device locator is configured to:
 receive the geographic information from the mobile device; 
 compare the received geographic information with one or more referenced locations using the location rule; and 
 determine the current availability status based on the comparison. 
 
     
     
       12. The device of  claim 11 , where the location rule contains proximity information; and
 where the device locator compares the received geographic information with one or more referenced locations based on the proximity information to determine the current availability status. 
 
     
     
       13. The device of  claim 9 , where the call control manager polls the mobile device for the geographic information. 
     
     
       14. The device of  claim 9 , where the call control manager is configured to generate a rule database table using parameters associated with the location rule, the current availability status of the mobile device and the action rule. 
     
     
       15. The device of  claim 14 , where the call control manager is further configured to reference the rule database table for at least one of the location rule, action rule or availability status prior to processing the one or more received calls. 
     
     
       16. The device of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 an availability status database to store availability status information corresponding to unique geographic information; and 
 an availability status manager to add the current availability status and the geographic information associated with the current availability status to the availability status database. 
 
     
     
       17. A device comprising:
 an action rule interface to generate one or more action rule profiles, each action rule profile associated with one or more action rules, the action rule interface including: 
 a location entry field to receive location information associated with a mobile device; and 
 an action rule field to receive parameters associated with a first action rule, the first action rule defining an action for processing incoming calls to the mobile device and using the received location information and information identifying whether mobile device is stationary as triggering events to execute the action, wherein the first action rule specifies that, when the availability status of the mobile device indicates that the device is at a first predetermined location and the mobile device is stationary, calls intended for the mobile device should be forwarded to a different device associated with the predetermined location. 
 
     
     
       18. The device of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 an availability status interface to generate availability information associated with an action profile, where incoming calls to the mobile device are processed based on an availability status and corresponding action profile of the mobile device. 
 
     
     
       19. The device of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 a location rule interface to generate a location rule including a proximity distance parameter for associating the location information to Hall the predefined location, 
 where incoming calls received at the predefined location are processed based on the first action rule.